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If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much might a
cinemagraph – or a "living picture" – be worth?

One tech-driven creative agency is attempting to find out.

Known for its growing collection of Flixel -branded apps, which
photographers use to mix a bit of motion into what would
otherwise be a still photograph, Flixel Photos has quietly grown
into a consultancy for brands and ad agencies – and it's now
gunning for a growing share of the $42 billion interactive
advertising
market, which includes both online and digital real estate.
Already, the company has helped create some visually unique
campaigns, including a web commercial that showcased a spinning
pinwheel and a fluttering dress for Macy's Marilyn Monroe
Collection. Another campaign highlighted a new Panasonic camera
that appeared to snap a picture of a goldfish swimming in a bowl
of water.

The Toronto-based company, which previously employed a business
development team in California, recently expanded into New York
City and is launching its own hosting and distribution platform
for companies interested in advertising with cinemagraphs. To
create one, someone must first shoot a short video directly from
Flixel Photos' software (or import it) then select an element
that should be endlessly repeated in a loop. The technique, which
was pioneered a few years ago by Kevin Burg, a visual graphics
artist, and Jamie Beck, a photographer, is technically cumbersome
and hard to recreate.

Flixel Photos, however, found ways to streamline the
creation process while keeping cinemagraphs better in quality
than animated GIFs. Also important? Keeping file sizes small
enough so that users can view them without running into playback
delays or having to click on an image to activate it. Just 10
days after seeking funds Flixel Photos managed to raise $250,000.

"That was kind of a lucky break," says Philippe LeBlanc, the
company's CEO and co-founder. "We had more challenges
afterwards."

Indeed, around the same time consumers began flocking to the
company's first free app, they also had the option of turning to
competing programs such as Microsoft's
Cliplets and the
Nokia Cinemagraph. But Flixel Photos rolled the dice on a
pricier suite of professional versions that featured more
powerful tools with support for higher quality resolutions, such
as 4K, ultra high definition devices, such as televisions. One of
its latest editions – which retails for a steep $99.99 – topped
the Mac App Store's photography category in nearly 80 countries,
won Apple's prestigious design award and generated $250,000
during its first quarter on sale earlier this year.

Demand for Flixel Photos' cinemagraphs has grown, in part,
as more brands search for creative ways to maintain the gaze of
viewers in the growing digital ad space. According to one of
Flixel's tests, cinemagraphs produced 5.6 times as many
click-throughs as online banner ads. Other tests from Flixel have
found that people look longer at cinemagraphs than other kinds of
images, like still pictures on Instagram, which could help
consumers recall a brand’s name or image better than traditional
ads – a point that intrigues some in media and technology
sectors.

But others in the advertising world aren't so sure the medium
will translate into a significant return on investment,
especially considering how much a brand might end up paying for a
video shoot to create a series of cinemagraphs. Another challenge
is that this technology isn't a new advertising channel: "You
haven't opened up a Facebook or Instagram, where you give a new
voice to an audience," says Howard Rissin, director of digital
consulting at RedWorks, an advertising and creative production
company. "If it's not meaningful then it's just another gimmick,"
says Rissin. "It really comes down to the brand and how
adventurous they are."

Even so, Flixel's teams has raised more than $2.5 million from
investors since the company launched in 2011, with some of that
money coming from Tyra Banks, who heavily promoted cinemagraphs
during an entire season of America's Next Top Model last
year. More recent exposure has included the use of moving images
from a Travel Alberta campaign both online and in a California
airport, some which of highlight stills of mountainous landscapes
with soft ripples of water and a rocky dinosaur park with the
Northern Lights dancing across a night sky. And even Rissin
acknowledges that while certain companies – like financial firms
– are unlikely to embrace this technology or use it well, others
such as carmakers or those with moving products could churn out
"exciting" campaigns.

LeBlanc, of course, needs no convincing: "This could be a game
changer for advertisers," he says.